4/12/2001 @ 6:00PM

Landing A Dream Job In A Down Market

Landing a job in a slowing economy doesn’t necessarily require candidates to compromise.

“The chances for a person to market themselves into their dream career are the same no matter what the economic environment,” says William Frank, chairman of Denver-based
CareerLab
, a firm that works with companies to place their laid-off staff. “A targeted campaign strategically placing a candidate in the market always works. In the ’80s, when oil companies were laying off geologists by the thousands, we were placing them, often in related industries.”

Still there’s no doubt that a job search today must be conducted in a far more creative fashion compared with 1999. These days job candidates have to be imaginative when they position themselves to potential employers.

“I’ve been talking to more people about reinventing themselves,” says Marilyn Byrd, a recruiter for New York-based
Sunny Bates
. For instance, if you do a particular kind of work for one industry, you can learn to do it for another. Byrd says that job hunters may have to take a step back to break into a new field; but, “In the long run, they’ll benefit from having a broader skill set.”

For many this may seem daunting. “There are a lot of people on the street who never had to look for a job before,” says Byrd, adding that this can easily be the case for someone who’s only worked for the past ten years. “These are talented, seasoned executives who’ve never done a résumé because people have always come after them. The people going on informational interviews these days aren’t necessarily young.”

Byrd is particularly impressed by how one former Internet chief executive is going about this. After deciding he wanted to work for a prestigious consulting firm, he networked his way into the company, meeting with several different executives just to learn about the business. It’s a global company with multiple divisions, and he learned how those divisions worked separately and together, as well as where the company was headed. This way he could position himself to add value in a way they hadn’t yet thought of. Heavily researching companies where you want to apply is critical.

“The best way to find a job is before they start looking,” says Byrd. “Companies may not be hiring, but they’re all still asking questions [about how to improve their business.] If you can help answer some of these questions, that’s a great way to pitch yourself.”

Whatever kind of company you’re talking to, there are some employee qualities especially sought after these days. “Any functions related to finance have become more important to companies,” says Caroline Nahas, a managing director at Los Angeles-based recruiter
Korn-Ferry
. Experience with budgets and cost management should definitely be played up. “During downturns we see especially heavy requests for chief financial officers.”

With or without any financial experience, prospects should highlight the hard times they’ve handled. “In a soft economy you want to show that you can manage under adversity and remain calm under fire, all while maintaining the ability to inspire employees,” says Nahas. “Provide examples of how you’ve worked effectively in an environment with constrained resources.”

She suggests that people who’ve worked only during a strong economy and lack that kind of work experience should highlight personal challenges they’ve overcome instead, correlating a life experience to the company’s circumstances.

“If an applicant was putting themselves through college with a full course load when their mother got cancer, and they had to care for her and handle work and school,” says Nahas, “they could talk about how they did that and what they learned from it.” Less dramatic examples can also work. “Maybe you were a competitive athlete who had something to overcome.”

But not everyone who is looking for work is particularly inclined to tailor themselves to current market conditions. Richard Bolles, author of the perennial best-selling career guide, What Color is Your Parachute?, suggests that people may have more rewarding work experiences if they first begin their search by deciding what it is they’d like to do.

“You don’t have to start with the labor market as a given, that’s a choice” he says. “You can also target companies and say, ‘Here’s what I’m looking for, do you need me?’” Such an endeavor requires an equal amount of research to be successful.

And it can be. A frequent reminder of this for Bolles is a blacksmith’s shop he often drives by near San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. “This is a guy who, in this day and age, got creative and found a way to work in a profession that went the way of the horse and buggy,” he says. “The shop always makes me think that all you have to do is use your imagination.”